Counted Cost

I have a friend who says I think too much. Although I would like to argue with him, I know that he’s probably right. I do think too much. I’m the girl who will make back-up plans on what to do if the plans we are making fall through. I’m also the girl who will put your birthday in my calendar as soon as you tell me when it is to make sure I don’t forget it. I consider the consequences of even my hypothetical actions. It short, my friend has a very valid point. I count the costs – maybe sometimes a bit too much.

Sometimes, however, I think we approach life in the opposite way. We think we should abandon plans in order to live for the moment. Sometimes, maybe especially so, this is true in Christian circles. We hear that we need to be abandoned to Christ and that sounds an awful like we should follow Him without consideration of the consequences. And while I agree that we should follow Him regardless of the outcomes, it doesn’t mean we need to go into it with our eyes wide shut.

I recently heard a preacher share that Jesus went to the cross and didn’t even consider the cost. I don’t think that’s the case. The anguish and grief that He experienced in Gethsemane were because of the cost that He was going to pay. He knew full well that death meant separation from His Father. He anticipated the pain that our sin was going to bring upon Him. Its not that He went to the cross without considering the costs. He counted the cost – and went anyway.

I hope that in at least some small way I live my life accordingly; that I know the sacrifice that God asks of me, and I make it willingly.